ARLINGTON, Texas -- UT Arlington softball opened the UTA Maverick Invitational with a split on Friday at Allan Saxe Field.

UT Arlington 9, South Dakota State 7 The Mavericks began the UTA Maverick invitational with a 9-7 victory over South Dakota State.

"These young ladies have really gone through a lot in the past year and they built their confidence in comeback situations," UT Arlington coach Kristie Fox said. "They're definitely fighters. South Dakota State is a good team and fortunately we were able to out hit them in that game."

Junior Nina Villanueva doubled to center field, scoring Britnea Barilli to put the Mavericks on the board in the first inning. Schaefer reached on an error allowing Villanueva to score for the 2-1 lead over the Jackrabbits.

Stokes hit her first home run of the season as the ball soared over the left field wall to start the second inning to give the Mavericks the 3-1 lead.

SDSU scored three runs off of four hits to regain the lead in the third inning.

An illegal pitch and a sacrifice fly allowed the Mavericks to pick up two runs in the fourth inning to tie the game at five.

In the next two innings, UTA picked up four runs off four hits to regain the lead. SDSU scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning, but it wasn't enough as the Mavericks won.

Missouri State 13, UT Arlington 4Missouri State started the game with a two-run home run to jump out to a 2-0 lead.

The Mavericks started connecting in the second inning. Michele reached on a throwing error by the short stop and Jolene Schaefer doubled to right center, scoring Michele. Schaefer scored on a single from Kacey Everett. Mavericks trailed 4-2 at the end of the second inning.

The Bears scored four runs in fifth inning to stretch their lead to 9-2.

Stokes singled in the bottom of the fifth to advance Schafer to second and score Jasmine Tanksley and Villanueva to cut MSU's lead to 9-4. MSU continued its momentum in the sixth inning, scoring four more runs.